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 NORTH AMERICAN RACING ACADEMY GRADUATES AND CURRENT STUDENTS IN EXHIBITION RACE AT TURFWAY Versailles, Ky. (September 23, 2008) Four graduates and four currently enrolled second-year students of the North American Racing Academy (NARA), along with Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron, the academy's executive director, will ride in an exhibition race at Turfway Park on Saturday, September 27. The exhibition race, five furlongs over Turfway's Polytrack, is part of festivities surrounding the 15th running of the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions, the track's most prestigious day of racing each fall. Post time for the exhibition is approximately 12:30 p.m., about 40 minutes before the track's first official race. No wagers will be taken on the exhibition race. The riders who are members of the academy's first graduating class include: Mikey James, Glendora, Calif.; Jessica Oldham-Stith, Cynthiana, Ky.; Anna Roberts, Franklinton, La.; Matthew Straight, East Greenbush, NY. Current second-year students include: Ben Creed, Taylorsville, Ky.; Kristina McManigell, Georgetown, Ky.; Ryan Pacheco, Toronto, Canada; and Mike Straight, East Greenbush, NY. Established in 2006, the NARA is the only school of its kind in the United States. It is located at the Kentucky Horse Park and the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, and is part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. NARA courses are accredited through Bluegrass Community and Technical College. Graduates of the NARA program receive certificates of course completion, which are eligible for credit toward degrees offered by KCTCS-affiliated colleges and universities. Eight students finished the two-year program in 2008 to become the school's first graduating class. Twenty-five first-year students are enrolled for the current semester, some aspiring to be jockeys and others pursuing careers in training, farm management, and other aspects of the racing industry. McCarron twice won the Kentucky Derby, with Alysheba in 1987 and Go for Gin in 1994. He owns five wins in the Breeders' Cup Classic, aboard Alysheba (1988), Sunday Silence (1989), Alphabet Soup (1996), and Tiznow (2000 and 2001), and was the regular rider for the legendary gelding John Henry. McCarron retired in 2002 with 7,141 career wins, sixth on the all-time win list, and was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility. In 1987 he teamed with his wife Judy and actor/comedian Tim Conway to form the Don MacBeth Memorial Fund in support of disabled jockeys and has been honored with both the George Woolf Memorial Award (1980) and the Mike Venezia Memorial Award (1991). McCarron also served as the race designer and played the role of Charlie Kurtsinger, War Admiral's jockey, in the movie Seabiscuit. He is this year's recipient of the prestigious Joe Palmer award presented by the National Turf Writers Association for meritorious contributions to the racing industry. Back to News Chris McCarron is Opening the First U.S. School to Teach Aspiring Riders How to Race. San Diego Union-Tribune By Hank Wesch August 31, 2005 Del Mar - Chris McCarron's name came up last week in discussions regarding the inordinate number of inquiries and objections during the race meeting here this summer. It was suggested that the steadying influence and leadership in the jockeys' room shown by McCarron and fellow Hall of Fame riders Eddie Delahoussaye and Laffit Pincay Jr. - missing with the retirement of all three in recent years - might be a factor in an outbreak of aggressive riding that led to the rash of judges' calls. On Monday, McCarron was here, visiting from his new Kentucky home in Lexington where he moved the family in April. He was in the Del Mar winner's circle with comedian Tim Conway after the second race to accept a check for $44,825 for the Don McBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, a charitable organization Conway and McCarron founded, the proceeds from an annual event at the nearby Pampelmousse Grille. McCarron has been busy in Kentucky, where he's founding and preparing to open a school for jockeys. But he has been following the races and developments and Del Mar. And he doesn't see any cause for concern. "Because of the atmosphere - it being a real brief meet, the attendance being the best that we see all year long - the adrenaline is pumping in the riders, trainers and horses much more so than at the other meets," McCarron said. "I think Del Mar has always been an incredibly competitive and aggressively approached meet. I'm not sure why there have been more controversial cases this summer, but I vividly remember it always being an aggressively ridden meet by the riders. There's a lot at take down here." Laid-back, it isn't. "One real misconception, that I realized shortly after I moved out here, was that this was a vacation for the riders," McCarron said. "You work harder down here than you do up north because you're riding six days a week and if you don't come out to the track in the morning (to ride workouts) your business is going to suffer. "The purses are so great, everybody's riding like there's no tomorrow. But I think that makes for great racing. I think the fans get to see the riders at their best." As for the jockey colony being left leaderless by the Hall of Famers' departure: "There are a number of riders in the jocks' room here who have what it takes to be leaders, except that they're maybe a little too quiet," McCarron said. "They're not inclined to get involved. "I was probably a little too much of a busybody at times in my career. I was always curious about things that were going on. I never had it in my head that I was going to take a leadership role, but because of my inclination to get involved in things, it just kind of evolved that way. "I think there are a number of riders who could be good leaders if they're inclined to take on that role." The role that McCarron has taken on, after ending a 28-year career with 7,141 wins in 2002 and spending some time in track administration as the general manager of Santa Anita, is with the North American Riding Academy he's starting in Kentucky. Like anything else he ever did, McCarron is pursuing the jockey school with solid planning, hard work and enthusiasm. So it has every chance to be first class and successful. The people of Kentucky have embraced it, McCarron said. The Kentucky Technical Community College System (KCTCS) is interested in affiliating and through that connection the "school" will be put in the jockey school. Through KCTCS, curriculum and strategies could be developed leading to accreditation so credits earned at the school would be transferable to other academic institutions. "This will eventually be a like lot some of the jockey schools in other countries around the world," McCarron said. "Besides teaching horsemanship and riding, we're going to teach fitness, nutrition, communication skills and we'll have courses in basic personal finance. "It's going to be a full-blown community or technical college course." What a concept. And one that, apparently, no one thought of before. "The irony of the situation is that we have the best racing in the world and jockeys come here from all over the world and try to emulate and mimic the style of American riders," McCarron said. "Every other country in the world has a school with requirements that in order to get a (jockey's) license you have to go through the school and graduate. But in this country it's ridiculously easy to get a license. "That has given me the biggest reason to do this. This is not a knock on any of the riders here in Southern California, but there are (jockeys) who start out riding with no formal training, no real take on the profession. It's on-the-job training. "Consequently, I think it's wrong for them to be entrusted with such a tremendous responsibility. The responsibility of the owners' investment, the responsibility of safety of the horse and the other riders on the track, the responsibility of riding capably as far as the betting public and the trainers are concerned. "There's a tremendous amount of investment from all sides when a horse enters the starting gate. And I think it's pretty strange that we place that responsibility on the shoulders of people that are not formally trained." Contact: Chris McCarron - (859) 288-7588 |
